Jailed, co-op boss who sold 76 vans to do up his house

THE former transport manager of the Co-operative Group fleeced the firm by selling off 76 works vehicles and pocketing the cash.

Ronnie Hutton was jailed for two years after admitting the theft of £132,500 []

Ronnie Hutton was in charge of the company’s nationwide fleet. But he stole dozens of Ford Transit vans so he could do up his house.

His two-year scam was finally exposed after whistleblowers tipped off senior management.

He was jailed for two years after admitting the theft of £132,500. He wiped away tears as sentence was passed at

Manchester Crown Court and his wife collapsed sobbing in the public gallery.

Hutton, 41, of Romiley near Stockport, rose through the ranks from teenage apprentice to his £60,000-a-year post.

The father of two had been fleet manager for six years when anonymous letters to bosses triggered an audit which revealed his crime.

You were not prepared to acknowledge that

Judge Robert Atherton

Christopher Beckwith, prosecuting, said the vehicles were sold, mainly for cash, on the basis that

the Co-operative Group no longer needed them.

But, instead of the money going back to the firm, Hutton kept it – and his bosses failed to notice the hole in the books.

Hutton has offered to give up his company pension as a way of paying back the money to his former firm, which has its headquarters in Manchester.

The buyer of the vehicles – RIJ Recovery Services of Wythenshawe – has also been left out of pocket. It paid cash for vans, mainly Fords, but also Renault and Volkswagen, believing the sales were legitimate. After the fraud came to light the Co-operative Group suspended its contract with the business, leading to an 85 per cent drop in its trade.

Vincent Dean, defending, said it was “surprising” the hole in the books went unnoticed for so long.

He said his client had over- extended on the purchase and ren- ovation of his home, and hadn’t frittered away the cash on fast cars and luxury holidays.

Hutton, who had a £225,000 mortgage, began stealing in 2008 when he found himself owing £50,000 to banks and had meant to pay the money back, said Mr Dean.

But, as renovation costs spiralled out of control, he began helping himself to more money.

Judge Robert Atherton told Hutton that he had committed a “gross breach of trust”.

He said: “I can’t help thinking that this was in the first place moti- vated by a wish for a standard of living which you simply could not possibly have managed.